Literature and Writings
Gaskell had a fascination with language and was an expert on the Lancashire dialect. Extracts from his lectures on dialect were published in the Examiner, and the 1854 edition of Elizabeth Gaskell's first novel, Mary Barton, was accompanied by his notes on dialect. He also published numerous pamphlets and sermons, and wrote or translated over seventy hymns, some of which are still sung.
His poem, 'Sketches among the Poor, No. 1' (co-written with his wife in the manner of Crabbe), was published in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine in 1837, and his poetry collection Temperance Rhymes (1839) won the approval of Wordsworth. His poetry varied in form, but always employed plain language and attempted sensitive portrayals of characters drawn from the working classes. The poem 'Manchester Song' supplies two of the chapter epigraphs to Mary Barton.
Read more about this topic: William Gaskell
Famous quotes containing the words literature and, literature and/or writings:
“Views of women, on one side, as inwardly directed toward home and family and notions of men, on the other, as outwardly striving toward fame and fortune have resounded throughout literature and in the texts of history, biology, and psychology until they seem uncontestable. Such dichotomous views defy the complexities of individuals and stifle the potential for people to reveal different dimensions of themselves in various settings.”
—Sara Lawrence Lightfoot (20th century)
“Most literature on the culture of adolescence focuses on peer pressure as a negative force. Warnings about the “wrong crowd” read like tornado alerts in parent manuals. . . . It is a relative term that means different things in different places. In Fort Wayne, for example, the wrong crowd meant hanging out with liberal Democrats. In Connecticut, it meant kids who weren’t planning to get a Ph.D. from Yale.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“A people’s literature is the great textbook for real knowledge of them. The writings of the day show the quality of the people as no historical reconstruction can.”
—Edith Hamilton (1867–1963)